natives of this state, the father having been born in Lee county and the mother in Wapello county. Mr. Boster has now passed away but his wife is still living and makes her home in Indian Creek township with one of her daughters. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hull Marie, Marion and Leslie.
They attend the Methodist Episcopal church, where the parents hold membership and of which Mr. Hull is one of the trustees. Although he has never taken an active interest in politics he goes to the polls on election day and casts his vote for the republican candidates, for he feels that the basic principles of that party are best adapted to the requirements of the people. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hull are highly esteemed and popular in the community where they live and he is one of the substantial farmers and cattlemen of the locality.
ELLSWORTH DOWNING.
Ellsworth Downing, who is the owner of a well conducted farm of two hundred acres in Collins township and is recognized as one of the substantial citizens of Story county, was born in Hancock county, Ohio, October 8, 1864. He is a son of George and Lavina (Van Buskirk) Downing, the former of whom was born in Pike county, Ohio, February 11, 1819. Mrs. Downing was also a native of the Buckeye state and was born January 1, 1831. The father successfully engaged in farming in Ohio, but believing that more favorable opportunities were to be found in the west, he made a trip of inspection to Story county, Iowa, and traded his Ohio farm for a place of two hundred acres in Collins township. Returning to Ohio, he came west with his family in 1872, driving across the country with two covered wagons. He resided on a farm in Collins township until his children were all grown and married, subsequently taking up his home with the subject of this review, with whom he continued to live for ten years. He passed away September 6, 1904, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. His wife died in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1870. Mr. Downing was a stanch advocate of the republican party and was quite prominent as a political speaker in Story county, also filling various public offices in his township. He served as justice of the peace in Ohio and also in Iowa and was a man of considerable influence wherever he was known. He was not identified with any religious body but was a valued member of the Masonic order.
Alt eight years of age Ellsworth Downing came to Story county with his father, growing up under the influences of the home that prepared him well for the struggle of life. He was educated in the district schools and at the age of eighteen years, while assisting his father upon the home farm, also engaged modestly, as opportunity permitted, in farming on his own